Stockton goalie steps up

STOCKTON - Thunder coach Matt Thomas considered switching goal-tenders until he received a text message from starter Cody Reichard telling his coach he intended to play.

Scott Linesburgh

STOCKTON - Thunder coach Matt Thomas considered switching goal-tenders until he received a text message from starter Cody Reichard telling his coach he intended to play.

Thomas relented, and he's glad he listened to his goalie.

Playing for the third day in a row, Reichard put on a sparkling performance by stopping 39 shots and beating the Utah Grizzlies 2-1 Sunday in front of a crowd of 4,033 at Stockton Arena. Harrison Reed scored the game-winning goal on a 5-on-3 power play in the third period as Stockton snapped a four-game winless streak.

Reichard has started all six games since Tyler Bunz was called up to Oklahoma City of the American Hockey League. Jody O'Neill was signed to back up Reichard on Jan. 18 and has made one appearance, and Thomas gave serious thought to giving Reichard a rest and changing things up.

"He basically told me he was going to play, and I like that," Thomas said. "Cody Reichard texted me and said, 'I want the net' and when a goalie does that type of stuff, you listen. It means they're a little bit possessed and a little bit in the zone and playing a little bit angry. I was coaching angry and I think we needed to play angry, and we did. We played with a chip on our shoulder."

Reichard said he looked at it as more of a request than a demand.

"I don't know if I demanded it. I told coach I wanted to play again," Reichard said. "It's kind of common knowledge among goalies that three-in-three is a lot of minutes, and you kind of know a little bit that maybe you won't play all three. I felt like I owed it to the guys, and I was fortunate that (Thomas) decided to go with it."

Reichard (11-7-5, 2.68 goals against average) gave up a power-play goal to James Martin in the second period and nothing else. The Grizzlies pulled goaltender Andrew Engelage in the final minute to give them an extra attacker, a tactic that worked Saturday night when they tied the game with 29.8 seconds left in regulation and won 4-3 in overtime. But Utah failed on Sunday as Reichard held off a flurry of shots in the final seconds.

"I can't say enough good things about the guys," Reichard said. "All the shots they blocked and just the way they cleared out rebounds. They played hard all night."

Reed broke a 1-1 tied with 9:34 left in the game, taking a pass from Maylan and burying his 18th goal of the season and third in two games.

"(Reed) was pretty hot through the weekend. We needed him to be," Thomas said. "I thought Justin Maylan did a real good job the last two nights to get his offense going. He had a couple good looks and they just didn't go in for him."

Martin's goal gave Utah a 1-0 lead early in the second period, and the Thunder tied it with 35.2 seconds left in the second. Ryan Constant earned the 100th assist of his pro career when he sent a long pass to Yannick Riendeau, who had a breakaway with Garet Hunt skating alongside him. Riendeau beat Engelage for his 14th goal of the season.